Follow-up study of the new experimental test “Plastic of ideal city”: preliminary results

Between normal aging and dementia exists a “transitional zone” defined Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). MCI patients develop an isolated and subclinic cognitive deficit but they are not compromised in their activities of daily life. MCI can manifest in an amnestic variant (memory deficits - aMCI) or non amnestic variant (deficit in a cognitive domain other than memory - naMCI) (Petersen et al., 1999). Topographical disorientation (TD) is a deficit to orient and to find the right way into a new or known environment. TD can be considered both a marker that points out differences of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) subtypes and an early clue of aMCI conversion to Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) (see for a review Iachini at al., 2009). Therefore, new tools to assess TD are required. The aim of the present study was to evaluate, at follow-up, the performance of MCI patients on a recent instrument designed to assess TD, i.e. the “Plastic of ideal City” (Rusconi et al., 2015).